Sand Filter Diagnosis - Please help

[pacgirl]

Hello, I am new to the pool world and I am just learning the names of parts, maintenance, problems, etc., so please bare with me as I crash course your world! :splash:

I've had my pool for a year now and have had a service company maintain and service weekly. Over the last several months the maintenance company has caused some equipment issues/possible damage and they have been fairly unreliable etc., so, I have been slowly learning the system so I can maintain it myself when I toss these guys to the curb.

I routinely check the pool room - almost everyday - to make sure everything is running smoothly, and for the most part the equipment was fine until 2 weeks ago. I walked into the pool room to find the pressure gauge full of water and a white crystallized substance all around these sand filter parts: pressure gauge, sight glass, valve, pipe joints, and at the base of the filter (pictures attached). I've done quite a bit of research on what might have caused this but I can't figure it out and my head is starting to throb! I'm thinking the substance is either salt or calcium - I do have a SWG. The substance is oily so maybe calcium?

Does anyone know what might have caused this collapse or blow to my sand filter? I am at a loss to figure this out and my pool guy doesn't know, (or doesn't want to tell me), and I can't get a straight answer from the pool company.

Thank you for any help so I might resolve this!!!

 

[Isaac-1]

I would tend to guess salt, but that is just a guess, the bigger question is why do you have leaks in all of those places, and how old is your equipment? As to the gauge, the name brand (Hayward, etc.) gauges are cheap gauges, if you get 2 or 3 years out of one before it fails one way or another you are lucky, In this case I would guess internal corrosion possibly caused by a mix of salt and pH issues, but again just a guess.

 

[woodyp]

All that stuff looks like silicone sealer to me. You sure it hasn't been there before?

 

[Isaac-1]

woody you are right that does look a lot like silicone sealant, of course if that is the case it should have never been used like that in those places to begin with.

 

[pacgirl]

That is a great question and I'm 99.9% sure all these "leaks" happened simultaneously with the broken pressure gauge. It's as if something caused an enormous amount of pressure build up and without the ability for the tank to release this pressure, it released it at the seams - which could also explain water in the pressure gauge and its sudden demise.

The sand filter is 9 years old and the multiport valve is 4 years old.

Also, when the pool guy came by there was a slight leak at the clamp when he turned the multiport valve to close. I also saw the sight glass squirt a little water.

I just want to know what could have caused such an enormous amount of pressure? Could doing something silly like turning the multiport valve without turning off the sand filter cause a large pressure build up like this? Or, could it be something else? My pool guy seems to forget to do stuff...

Thanks for your help!

the bigger question is why do you have leaks in all of those places, and how old is your equipment?

 

[pacgirl]

Thanks for your reply! I'm certain it was never there before. I check over the equipment several times a week to make sure there's no leaks etc and I would not miss something like that on the pipes. The substance is crystallized and it's grainy like salt. I was going to taste it but thought better of that... When I was doing research on SWG's, I read about calcium problems and thought maybe it was that. I suppose I could take a sample and test it. My pool guy tested the calcium level of the pool and it reads 250.

Does silicone have grainy and crystallized features like salt? I thought silicone was more like a rubbery texture?

All that stuff looks like silicone sealer to me. You sure it hasn't been there before?

 

[Isaac-1]

About the only thing that can cause enough pressure to pop loose in all those places is freezing, or maybe an explosion in the filter if someone mixed cal-hypo with dichlor or trichlor.